tight-assed adjective 5adverb 1forms 2 adjective5 •(informal) Having firm or clenched buttocks.He had an eagle tattooed on his chest, a tight-assed, narrow-hipped swagger, and a reputation for having fast hands and clever fingers. — 1994 •(informal, disapproving) Rigidly maintaining self-control; restricting oneself to generally accepted rules and behaviours.Assemblyperson Baker, as she probably liked to be addressed, had all the lyricism and sensuality of Betty Crocker. She was so tight-assed that she even wore stockings in the tropics. — 1982 •(informal, disapproving) Excessively concerned with unimportant details; obsessively precise.[…] Gottlieb obviously wishes, above all else in life, that he could turn himself into that miserable don and learn to write his spiteful-playful tight-assed vinegar prose. — 1964 •(informal, disapproving) Reluctant to spend money.We have learned how—what do you call it?—tight-assed the white man is with his money. — 1971 •(informal) Fitting tightly in the area covering the buttocks.There is no room in his tight-assed pants for his dangling hands. — 1967 adverb1 •(informal, disapproving) In an uptight or fastidious way.When he’d stopped at a saloon for a glass of skullbuster, the bar-keep had been so tight-assed snotty about serving him that he’d taken the one drink in a gulp and then cleared out. — 1975 formsmore tight-assed · most tight-assed
